Kidnappin' is one of the most important cards in the current metagame, our only salvation from the rampaging Dudes & Deeds and Curses & Rumors decks! ;P

This job lets you hunt down high-influence dudes holed up at home, as well as those nasty tricky hucksters. Even Clementine Lepp hiding in her saloon is not safe from being kidnapped!

Reminder for those new to the game on how jobs work:

First, you form a posse by choosing the leader, any dudes in the same or adjacent locations, plus any dudes already at the mark's location or at adjacent locations. So, if you're kidnapping a dude at their home with a dude at your home, then you can send any dudes from any of the following locations: your home, in-town deeds right next to your home, your opponent's home, in-town deeds right next to their home, and the town square.
(If you were to lead a job from the Surveyor's Office marking the town square, the whole town could join, including any out-of-town ranches and strikes! Yay!) :D

Next, you boot all choosen dudes (including the leader, because this particular job requires you to do so) and move them to the mark's location. They all get a bounty on their heads, plus a second bounty if the job is opposed and takes place in an opponent's home or private deed. Note that any dudes already at the mark's location don't need to boot -- so you might want to send them in there before the job starts, if you want to use Wendy or Pistol Whip or Point Blank or some such. Of course, once your opponent sees your dudes waltzing into his home turf, he'll realize that you're up to something nasty, and will take all precautions, including calling his best friend Steven Wiles over. So think twice before forfeiting the surprise factor!

Now, a job is better than just forcing a shootout (with Bounty Hunter, Clyde Owens or Run 'Em Down) in that the mark cannot escape by Makin' The Smart Choice or by surviving the first round of shootout -- if the job is successful, the mark is discarded even if it's not involved in the gunfight. Sometimes it might even be worth to not oppose the Kidnappin' and willingly discard the mark - if you try to fight you risk it getting aced instead.

Finally, after the job is finished, any remaining dudes from the attacking posse go home booted. You hear that? Any dudes you send on the job are done for the day! No more movin' or shootin'!

Unless, of course, you cheat and use one of the following:

♦ The Pharmacy can unboot a booted dude and send them ravaging the town again.

♥ Mustang, Mechanical Horse and Bluetick can move a booted dude to occupy a deed or to assist in a shootout.

The power of jobs like Kidnappin' and Ambush is not so much to catch dudes hiding at home, although that's always good. It's also the instant surprise you can pull on your oppponent who are trying to outmaneuver you.

Let's take the following example. Your starting Posse is only 1 influence dudes. You're facing an opponent starting Steele Archer. They win initiative and attach a Shadow Walk on Steele. On your action, you play a General Store, planning to use it to play your nice Peacemaker. Your opponent's next play is to use Shadow Walk with Steele to jump to your General Store and ninja its ability before you can. You have no time to move there and call him out before he uses it and denies you the cost reduction.

However with a Kidnappin' in hand you can immediately Jump the now defenseless Steele with even a small wimp like Travis Moone who is possibly capable alone of finishing the job successfully. The opponent's greed worked against him.

This kind of setup is the secret power of jobs. Your opponent is trying to deny you early Jackson's Strike production? Kidnap that wimpy Micah Ryse before his buddy Kevin Wainwright can come to save his butt. Your opponent just built a new deed with Irving? Kidnap him now that he's away from home and booted, so neither his Make the Smart Choice nor his Pistol Whip will help him.

My suggestion is, only ever Kidnap someone at home if your shootout hand is amazing and you have chance to wipe out their whole posse if they defend, and if the mark is really critical to their plans (e.g. their single starting Mad Scientist before they get to invent anything). But for all oher cases, it's better to be cautious and use your jobs opportunistically ;)